Day 3: Joy Of Obedience

TO OBEY or NOT TO OBEY?

Is that

the question or the answer?

YES!

What do you think when you hear the word OBEDIENCE?

YIKES.

For me, it used to sound like a life filled with

DO'S and DON'TS.

DON'T DO this. DO this.

DON't DO that. DO that.

Where is the JOY in that?

But wait...

if

JESUS IS JOY,

wouldn't following

JESUS be JOYFUL?

YES.

Because OBEDIENCE

isn't about following rules so

GOD will LOVE you.

OBEDIENCE IS OUR RESPONSE TO GRACE.

We don't OBEY to earn HIS LOVE.

We OBEY because we have already received it.

JESUS said,

“If you really LOVE ME, you will keep and obey MY commandments.(John 14:15 AMP).

There it is.

LOVE.

Not fear.

Not earning.

Not performing.

LOVE.

Oh,

the

JOY OF OBEDIENCE.

It begins when we get our

"ME"

out of the way and make JESUS THE WAY.

For JESUS IS

"...the WAY and the truth and the life" (John 14:6).

Maybe that is the real struggle with

OBEDIENCE.

For have you ever wanted,

"MY" WAY.

MY timing.

MY plans.

MY answers.

MY control.

But JESUS says,

"Follow ME."

Hmm.

There it is.

IT'S NOT ABOUT ME.

OBEDIENCE means surrendering

MY WAY to THE WAY.

Maybe OBEDIENCE is a kind of death after all~

a beautiful death

to SELF.

Less of MY way.

Less of MY control.

Less of MY need to understand.

And MORE OF HIM!

"Whoever wants to be MY disciple must deny themselves

and take up their cross daily and follow Me" (Luke 9:23).

JESUS doesn't say,

"Understand everything before you follow ME."

HE simply says, "FOLLOW ME."

Sometimes

OBEDIENCE comes before understanding.

Because when

I truly TRUST the ONE who is leading me,

I can take the next step

without knowing where the entire road will lead.

That is when

FAITH becomes ACTION.

So...

TO OBEY

or

NOT TO OBEY?

Maybe the better question is...

DO I TRUST THE ONE I'M OBEYING?

Because when

JESUS is the answer,

OBEDIENCE becomes more than

DO'S and DON'TS.

It becomes

LOVE IN ACTION.

FAITH IN ACTION.

GRACE IN ACTION.

So today,

when GOD asks us to get our "ME" out of the way,

let's

TRUST HIM,

FOLLOW HIM,

and

OBEY HIM.

Not so

HE will LOVE you,

but because

HE ALREADY DOES.

Oh,

the

JOY OF OBEDIENCE.

Less of ME. More of HIM.

MY WAY becoming HIS WAY.

Because

IT'S NOT ABOUT ME,

because it is all about making

ME

"MORE LIKE JESUS"

(listen to the song below)